I'd like to know what does he feel is the nature of cause of the disappearing 10,000 posts forumites?

Is it eerie alien anal probe time?Cue this instrument of sci-fi fame

Anyway whatever your bent screwt I just want to congratulate you on this impressive millstone around your neck milestone for sticking around this neck of the woods long enough to trigger the full five digits.

As you no doubt aware, you can count on me to donate at least one digit to you whenever you need it.

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"...but on a lighter note, demons were driven from a pig today in Gloucester." Bill Bailey

I'd like to know what does he feel is the nature of cause of the disappearing 10,000 posts forumites?

First of all, thank you for noticing and caring.

A few years ago I decided I was going to taper off the forum. I had other things I wanted to focus on. That was when Agga - aka Mod 11 - recruited me to be a mod. I was terrible at it. I still am.

To answer your question - it is a variety of things. Ennui. A sense of futility. Self loathing for all the hours (days, weeks) lost arguing with strangers on the internt when I could have been doing better things. The realization that I am having the same arguments over and over and over, verbatim. Not liking my online persona. Understanding that we become who we pretend to be (so be careful who you pretend you are).

I feel all these things. christ. I'm even linking my own older posts instead of repeating myself.

I've learned a lot. Interacted (in the loosest sense of the word) with a lot of good, smart people. And some horrid idiots.

Screwtape, I've felt the same way and come to the somewhat same conclusion. It seems that new theists come and go with the same reworded, futile attempts to try and reason with them to no end. Having said that, Ive learned a lot not only from others on this forum, including you - but I learned a lot about myself as well - good and bad .

My wife and I watched a series of documentaries on the history channel on the 'dark ages' and the few centuries afterwords. The common theme of course - the church blocking reason, science, common sense, and committing horrific acts all in the name of god. My wife wasn't raised with any religious deities whatsoever (maybe thats why i married her ) where I was raised with a very Christian mother but was able to start critically think in my teenage years thankfully. None of what we watched was news to me but she couldn't understand how these atrocities of ignorance could have happened and she didn't understand how anyone could still think and believe these stories were truth.

It's innocence like this that always reminds me why sites like this really are good. It brings people who would have never thought about things otherwise gone unmentioned or discussed regardless of the motive. I really believe this site is one of the best sources of not only truth, but open honest discussion and debate with very knowledgable people.

The one most important aspect of being an atheist I keep reminding my wife (she doesn't understand why I read and/or post on this forum... She's already neutral, a clean slate, an atheist who doesn't know it really) is that "atheists can be reasoned with".

This is an incredibly powerful notion that Christians just don't understand or comprehend. They believe a world view where they think they have interpreted all the answers - They simply cannot be reasoned with whatsoever. We may not be in the dark ages but it's nice to be reminded with political discussions about gay marriage,evolution, separation of church and state... The subtleties of the dark ages are still here to be sure (especially on fox news).

As we and our knowledge evolve, our understanding of our place in the universe, our societies become more civil and technological, its nice to know that at the very least - I can hopefully be reasoned with.

The bottom line - this site is one of the best no matter how déjà vu the conversation!

« Last Edit: July 03, 2013, 05:46:41 PM by DVZ3 »

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Hguols: "Its easier for me to believe that a God created everything...."

The one most important aspect of being an atheist .... is that "atheists can be reasoned with".

Not to hijack the thread - I like this. It's not always easy to meet this standard - sometimes when I'm lazy I do lapse into being a stubborn know-it-all asshat - but just recognising the value and importance of being open to reason has allowed me to make progress in improving myself. Some of my finest moments have been when confronted by reason I've admitted my views have been wrong - publicly or even quietly to myself.

Submitting to reason - doesn't even hurt a bit when you get used to it - it's all good.